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US 7,013,002 B2Granted
Credit card collect call system and method
AssigneeSBC Knowledge Ventures, L.P.
InventorsMichael P. Link, Kenneth A. Skupien, Pepper Mulherin
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A method of providing collect call service includes receiving a request for a collect call from a calling party (18). A selected number to call is received. A call is placed to a receiving party (20). Agreeability of the receiving party (20) to accept the credit card billing for the collect call is determined. The calling party (18) is connected to the receiving party (20) in response to the acceptance.
Claims20
A method of processing a call from an inmate facility, the method comprising:
- receiving a call and a number to call from an inmate facility at an inmate platform;
- generating a query from the inmate platform to an external line information database (LIDB) platform to determine a blocking status signal for the number to determine a blocking status of a called party;
- processing the blocking status signal and further comprising:
- when the status blocking signal indicates a non-blocked condition, transferring control from the inmate platform to an operator services platform and using the operator services platform to prompt the called party to determine whether charges for the collect call are accepted, to prompt for a billing type for the charges, and to connect the collect call from the inmate facility to the called party when the charges for the collect call are accepted by the called party;
- and
- when the blocking status signal indicates a blocked condition, using the inmate platform to prompt the called party to determine whether charges for the collect call are accepted and when the charges are accepted to further receive third party billing information to provide for payment of the accepted charges and to connect the call from the inmate facility to the called party when the third party billing information is validated for payment of the accepted charges.
3 more elements
A system of processing a call from an inmate facility, the system comprising:
- an input to receive a call and a dialed number from an inmate facility;
- a query generation element to generate a query from an inmate platform to a line information database (LIDB) platform to determine a blocking status signal to determine a blocking status of a called destination corresponding to the dialed number;
- and
- a processor to process the blocking status signal such that when the status blocking signal indicates a non-blocked condition, control is transferred from the inmate platform to an operator services platform and the operator services platform prompts the called destination to determine whether charges for the collect call are accepted, prompts for a billing type for the charges, and connects the collect call from the inmate facility to the called destination when the charges for the collect call are accepted by the called party, and when the blocking status signal indicates a blocked condition, the inmate platform prompts the called destination to determine whether charges for the collect call are accepted, and when the charges are accepted receives third party billing information to provide for payment of the accepted charges and connects the call from the inmate facility to the called destination when the third party billing information is validated for payment of the accepted charges.
1 more element
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.